Over the past few days, I’ve rated the 8 leading GOP Candidates for the GOP 2016 nomination according to RealClearPolitics as of 6 Aug 2015. I used four criteria; potential to change America, electability, personal integrity and past performance. I scored them from 0 to 3. The ratings were color-coded as follows.

Blue = Excellent (3pts) – Implies Candidate is solidly better than most of the GOP and all of the Dems.
Green = Good (2pts) – Implies candidate is better than GOP average and probably all Dems.
Yellow= Low Pass (1 pt) – Candidate is on the low end of the GOP and is not impressive.
Red = Terrible (0pts) – Denotes a very nice person who does not need to serve as POTUS.

I’ll let Ann Barnhardt explain why THE DONALD gets a big, dead Red.

So, who said the following? I’ll give you forty-seven guesses:
1) “I probably identify more as Democrat.”
2) “I’ve been around for a long time. And it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.”
3) “Nancy — you’re the best. Congrats. [signature]”
—Handwritten note to Speaker [mc_name name=’Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’P000197′ ]
4) “Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States.”
5) “I’m totally pro-choice.”
6) “I want to see the abortion issue removed from politics. I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors.”
7) “I’m very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care.”
8) “The Canadian plan also helps Canadians live longer and healthier than Americans… We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan.”
9) “By imposing a one-time 14.25 percent net-worth tax on the richest individuals and trusts, we can put America on sound financial footing for the next century.”
10) “I think he [Obama] has a chance to go down as a great president.”

Next we get the guy I wish were running for President. Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. This Jeb Bush established Florida’s 1st Charter School. He helped Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen become Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen. According to Leftipedia, he did the following during his 8-year stint as Governor of Florida.

During his eight years as governor, Bush was credited with initiating environmental improvements, such as conservation in the Everglades, supporting caps for medical malpractice litigation, moving medicaid recipients to private systems, and instituting reforms to the state education system, including the issuance of vouchers and promoting school choice.

That guy gets a lush, verdant Green. We can only wonder where he’s gone in campaign 2016.

Scott Walker shares something in common with Bill Gates. Yeah, bad pun, whatever. He also has compiled an outstanding record in Wisconsin while utterly torquing of the fine, old Burg of Madison, WI. This began in 1993 when he won the first of more than one special elections and proceeded to begin grinding on the issue of right-to-work. In 2001, he buffed up his anti-abortion credentials and fought to reform a nut-job regime of sexual education in the public schools.

Walker went on to became Governor and repaired a badly damaged budget in 2011. He described his strategy to make Wisconsin right-to-work as divide and conquer. He broke the state employee unions in Wisconsin. He was recalled and told the Madison Dems not to call back. The guy is like the Terminator. He keeps on grinding until he levels up. Solid Blue.

Once upon a time, there was this state governor who raised taxes, paroled felons, and generally out-Beta-Maled every other opponent in his party. He won the nomination and gave me the distinct pleasure of voting against his sorry butt in a Presidential Election. No, that wasn’t Mike Huckabee. That Was Mike Dukakis who actually ran for office from the proper party for a man with that sort of a record as governor. Mike Huckabee gets a dead Red for his past performance. I wish him and THE DONALD best of luck on their respective hunts for the mythical Kenyan Birf-Surtifikate.

Ben Carson has performed very capably as a cardiac surgeon. This is not an easy thing to do for a living and should be accorded great respect. It regretfully does not qualify him to serve as President. He gets a Yellow on past performance and makes me wish he had chosen to enter politics in more gradual fashion and run for a lesser office to learn the trade.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ] is on the way to compiling an awesome record. He has served capably in Texas’ State Government and then moved on to the US Senate. Along the way, he successfully carried off The Great Dewhurst RINO Hunt. The man is a national treasure and an invaluable asset to our party. Solid Blue.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] is not as much of a Johnny Come Lately as I originally thought he would be. Young does not necessarily mean untried. He was an effective leader in the Florida State Assembly back when Jeb went around Florida actually behaving like a conservative. He reportedly ran a pretty decent railroad. Rubio then provided us entertainment by conducting quite the fabulous Liberal RINO-Roast of Charlie Christ. Spray-Tan Charlie then confessed to his Democratness and proceeded to help re-elect Gov. Scott. I’d give him a deep, solid Blue just for Crispy-Christ if he hadn’t fallen into a regrettable dalliance with Charlie Schumer’s Gang of Eight. My research into this has given me a higher opinion of the man than I originally held. He gets a Green.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’P000603′ ] just hasn’t been very long on the farm. I think he is a lot more impressive than many of my cohorts here believe him to be. It’s just that he reminds me a lot of Ben Carson. He has done some very good and impressive things with his life. He just hasn’t done the sort of good and impressive things with his life that would make someone ready to serve as POTUS. Rand gets a Yellow along with my respect. That and $3 would get him a coffee at Starbucks.

That concludes my 4-part look at the Top 8. I’ll wrap the whole thing up next time and tell you who I’d like to see on a ticket out of these eight. Last time I wrote on personal integrity. Thanks for reading. – V/R, RMJ.